Invented
in 2009, Node.JS is a cross-platform runtime environment. It is open
source and the applications are written in Javascript. The arrival of
Node.JS was certainly a revolutionary of sorts with its ability to
develop real-time web applications that are fast, scalable and data
driven. A Node.JS developer can use event driven programming model to
build hugely scalable servers.

It is a known fact that Node.JS has been built on the Google V8
JavaScript engine. The reasons being that, V8, is an open source,
focused on the web, and is extremely fast. Having said that, this
completely free platform is mostly utilized for developing single
page applications, video streaming sites and other web apps.

Features
of Node.JS

Running the applications within the Node.JS runtime on Windows,
Linux and also MAC OS X is possible without the need for any
changes.

Even though multiple threads are used for network and file events,
the application can run single threaded.

Library code packages can be shared very easily. The Node Package
Manager has a collection of about 50,000 packages. Hence, a solution
is packaged for you by other developers.

Node.JS releases the data in chunks. Hence, applications do not
buffer any data.

Node platform's global objects are
obtainable in all modules. They are functions, strings and objects
itself. Without including them in the application, they can be put
to use directly.

Streams are objects that allow to
read data from a source. Also, streams enable writing data to a
destination. Readable, writeable, duplex and transform are the types
of streams.

Emitting and binding of callbacks
to events is possible with eventemitter, which is a class. Event
based classes and applications can be built.

Node.JS is bundled with Read Eval
Print Loop or REPL. It reads and parses the user's input into the
JavaScript data structure. And then stores in the memory. Eval is
the short form of Evaluate. Obviously it evaluates the data
structure. Print, prints the result. Loop, loops the command until
such time the user presses ctrl+c two times.

Reasons for creating
real-time applications using Node.JS

Before to working on Node.JS, fundamental understanding of concepts
in JavaScript, HTML, CSS and AJAX can be an advantage. The major
reasons for creating real-time applications with Node.JS is that this
framework uses non-blocking I/O model and is event driven. Hence,
becoming lightweight and efficient and thereby helping to create
data-intensive real-time applications.

Likewise, there are multiple other reasons for creating cutting-edge
real-time applications using Node.JS. Let us know a little more about
them. Typical real-time applications like chat can be efficiently
built using Node.JS. This platform is also highly suitable for games
because event loop manages the multi-user requirement. The socket.IO
plays a major role in the development of real-time applications.
Socket.IO library offers real-time transport between the web browser
and Node.JS server.

Conclusion:
The coming days will see a
significant rise in the use of Node.JS. The demand for it is already
prevalent, owing to increased colloboration between people on the
real-time basis, thereby increasing the need for real-time
applications. Hence, with a basic knowledge of JavaScript, it would
be ideal for any individual to try out Node.JS.